Reviews by DerekP:

With my nose in the bottle I can smell a strong aroma of amber/caramel malts. Glory be to the beer gods! In a sizable mug with a confident handle, I poured an excited beer with an enormous head. Glory be to the beer gods!

Appearance is dark brown, almost black. Big head at first, but disappeared almost completely. That said, mahogany hints at the bottom help this beer look very inviting. 4/5

An aroma of burnt raisins, cold coffee, roasted grains, and very warm alcohol underneath all that goodness. This beer asks to be quaffed! Well, actually that we be a bad idea. Sip slowly... 4/5

Sweetness up front with a heavy dose of caramel malts. Bittering hops and alcohol hit the tongue on the back and the middle, respectively. Malty, malty, malty. Raisin bread, figs, caramel, hops for balance. Good stuff! 4.5/5

Feels slick in the mouth. Enough hops for the body which is frankly, heavy (anyone who says differently needs to take a break from beer). Alcohol lingers a bit, but solid. 4/5

A: This beer is a wonderfully dark, thick and rich doppelbock. It is mostly a dark brownish-black with hints of red and even amber at its thinnest points in the glass near the stem. Some creamy frothy head but no major lacing on on my pour. The beer seems so thick that as it leaves the glass it pulls the lacing with it. Lots of soul in this beer's look.

S: Not super fragrant, gives the impression that it's thick and not aromatic like an IPA. Big malts hidden deep and a very noticeable molasses smell.

T: I'll be completely frank from the start. I struggled between a 5.00 and 4.75 here. This beer isn't really perfect but it's too good to be 4.75. Unfortunately I don't think it quite deserves a 5.00 but it's so close that I almost gave it to it anyway... Anyway, on to the review.. The first sip is very smooth and crisp considering its thickness, very similar to a nice drinkable wine. Extremely malty, one of the richest and maltiest beers I've tasted. Tons of depth and various flavors as the beer cools. Rich caramel and molasses over hints of coffee. Even a little twang maybe like a green apple on the nose. Nothing overpowering, perfectly balanced. Extremely drinkable. 6.7% ABV and virtually zero bitterness. The roasted malts are huge. The only thing it needs is a little more hops to give it a nice crispy finish. Massive, deep rich beer. Wonderful. A++++.

M: Thick but not syrupy. Very crisp and tons of carbonation deep within the beer's rich texture. A wonderful mouthfeel after drinking with almost no aftertaste. Super smooth, super flavorful and super easy to drink.

O: By far the easiest doppelbock I've tasted, and possibly one of the best beers I've tasted. Rich and powerful, deep and thick but not overly strong, sour or bitter. Lots of wonderful notes and a very fragrant nose. Dominant flavors are MALT MALT MALT MALT with some caramel, molasses. Followed by some subtle coffee and citrus hints. Wonderfully balanced, maybe the best balanced beer I've ever sampled. Unbelievably drinkable for this thickness.

Taste: Huge chewy malt of light molasses and toasted bread with a sharp twang of an even hop bitterness and spicy alcohol. Some dried fruit comes through as well as some hop leaf flavour. Does not dry much in the end ... lots of residual sugars, lingering dark sugars and fading grain in the end.

Mouthfeel: Incredibly smooth and creamy the modest carbonation after a sturdy pouring struggles to break free from this thick bodied brew.

Drinkability & Notes: This is the mother of all Doppelbocks ... nearly perfection in a bottle. Mellow yet towering, humbly complex and just a down right beautiful brew.

Pours a nice dark brown. Looks very dark brown, almost black, in the glass, and an aggressive pour yields an enormous fluffy tan head that leaves behind splotchy lacing. It's a thing of beauty.
The smell is pure toasted malts. Nutty, bready, toasty, and sweet. Caramel, brown sugar, earth, and spices.
On the palate, you get pure toasted malts upfront. Brown sugar, caramel, molasses, and licorice. Thick chunks of toasted brown bread. Dark fruits. Cherries, figs, and raisins. A touch of cocoa. Spiciness of clove and a hint of vanilla. There's some lingering sweetness but there's a beet-like earthiness that balances it.
The mouthfeel is medium-approaching heavy with a nice light carbonation that makes it very drinkable.

This is an excellent beer worthy of its reputation. As a hophead, this is one of the best malt-forward beers I've had.

The Mathematics of Carl Friedrich Gauss,
The Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke,
The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach,
A fine Maybach automobile,
The Bayern Munich Football Club,
A genuine Black Forest ham,
and Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock.

Do I love malt. Why, yes I do! This stuff is almost too good. Deepest brown pour with dense tan, clingy head. Aromas of toast, bready malt, some esters and yeast. Flavors similar to smell, with a heavy malt presence dominating the show. There are only a handful of brews, with which if they were the only available in the world, I could be completely content. This is one of them.

Served from 330 mL bottle into glass at home. Pours deep brown with a reddish hue, practically opaque with small tan head. Some legs are noticeable on the glass after movement. Strong malty aroma with dark fruit and hints of chocolate and coffee. No detectable hop aroma. More malt and dark fruit flavor and even stronger chocolate, creating a kind of chocolate covered raisin flavor. The dark fruit is definitely not overpowering, in fact the flavor is almost ephemeral: disappearing from the pallet quickly after finishing. No hop flavor is detectable. The finish itself is somewhat sweet but not cloying, with very low bitterness and a small amount of alcohol flavor. Medium full body with low carbonation. Overall this beer is full of rich dark flavor with the smooth crisp clean lager quality expected from a century old German brewer. This beer is very enjoyable, easily drinkable despite the strong flavor and a perfect example of the style.

Smooth malt laden taste with a super smooth light malty aftertaste that leaves me wanting more and more.
To me the two most important things about beer are taste and aftertaste (hence: it tastes good and I want more) and this beer delivers on both.

Pours a deep ruby, brown color with a two finger medium dark cream head. Aroma is dark fruit, molasses, roast and slight bittersweet chocolate. Taste is more of the same with a bit of spice on the finish. Mouthfeel is medium, almost a bit chewy, which I love in a dopplebock. Overall, a very fine dopplebock and a world class beer and example of the style.

I thought I knew what good beer was...but that was until today. I have to hand it to the Germans, this was one damn good beer.

Full disclosure - I am a dark beer, stout, porter, dopplebock kinda guy - so I am partial to these types of beers. I have had plenty of them and thought I knew what a good instance of one would be. Boy, was I wrong. This Ayinger Celebrator was an experience unlike any other. Served in a goblet, it had a black but still appealing hue of darkness, a decent head, but little staying power (admittedly something I easily overlooked). The smell was not necessarily anything that was memorable, but it didn't have any of the other "heavy" odors of dark beers. The feel was truly smooth, silky, and easy to be sessionable. But what simply blew me away was the taste - by God - I can't say enough about it. It was unlike any other dopplebock I have had. If given the chance I would probably drink this stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (but I suppose it's a good thing I don't.) Overall, it was by far the best beer I've had in a very long time, if not the best ever.

UPDATE: 12 August 2016
This is still the best damned beer I have had to date. And now, after having as many as I have had, I can tell you there is a hint of honey to the brew. So not only delicious, but a hint of sweetness to it. Damn, the Germans really know how to make beer.

This beer puts the Doppel in Bock (that was bad). This beer is legen, wait for it... Smells like a German angel who bathed in molasses syrup and worked 8 hours in a candy- bakery shop combo. Aromas and flavors of toffee, figs, molasses, carmel, malt balls, and taste like you put a sweet swizzle struessel dessert bread in a blender with the DNA of a 1500 year old monk. Not too thick and hard to drink like it would lead you to believe, but fairly full and creamy. It even comes with a souvenir goat. What more could you ask for? ...dary!

Poured from an iconic 12 oz. bottle, complete with miniature plastic ram, in to a small glass mug. The assertive carbonation yields a massive, mounded head of foam that resembles an oven-rising baked biscuit. The beer has a deep chestnut brown appearance with tawny accents. It smells of fresh-baked whole grain bread and a vague notion of sweet nuttiness. Earthy accents of soy sauce and molasses are present in the nose as well. The flavor is very malt-forward, but steers well clear of the cloying sweetness that so many other malt monsters convey. There's some dark fruits, with hints of subtle tart black cherry. A mild earthy hop profile perfectly accentuates the distinct Bavarian flavors. Suggestions of smooth, sweet dark coffee and minerals linger in the aftertaste. The texture of the beer is phenomenal. Rich and creamy velvet perfection. Oh so easy to savor. For such a hearty beer, this is sooo easy to drink. It's simply a masterclass. I've yet to try a dopplebock, foreign or domestic, that I put in the same league as Celebrator. From the iconic artistic style, to the wonderfully smooth texture, to the refined Bavarian taste, this one is just incredible. The definition of world class.

Look: very dark brownish-black, some head, lots of bubble, very lively.
Smell: The most lovely smell came out even when I started opening the bottle. dark fruit, a lot of caramel, molasses smell, very sweet and lovely. I kept on smelling it the whole time.
Taste: some carbonation, very sweet molasses, malty and yeasty. Little hop, some bitterness at the end, like caramelized sugar. Bread like taste. A meal in a bottle!
Feel: full bodied, chewy, voluptuous, lusty, viscous liquid. Great sweet aftertaste, and I bet my mouth smelled better than any gum out there.

One of the best beers I have ever had, and I'll keep coming back for more. Also, great label, and thanks for plastic mountain goat!

Ever-so-slightly chilled. For the vessel... I choose you, tulip glass!

A dense knitting of tan froth for a head, and a very, very dark body that betrays hints of rich ruby to the light.

It smells of raisins, cherries, vanilla, and chocolate. The chocolate is actually fairly pronounced. Definite ripe banana, too. You know what? It kinda smells like an ice cream sundae!

Dark fruits such as prunes and the cherries and raisins come out in the flavor, then the vanilla and chocolate. The finish is malty, yeasty, a bit earthy, and reminds me a little of chocolate milk! Delectable.

L: Large foamy head that faded down to a thin, creamy tan head. Body is dark brown and let very little light through.

S: Malty but not super aromatic.

T: Brown sugar and toasted bread. A little bit of hoppy bitterness. Flavors are very well balanced.

F: Full bodied and a little creamy. Light carbonation, enough to notice but not enough to "bite" making this drink very smooth.

O: Wow now that is a beer. I recently joined BA and started doing reviews and have been wondering, "What does a 5 rating taste like to me." I just found out. Flavors and mouthfeel are perfectly balanced. This may be my new favorite beer.

honestly I'm not an expert in dopplebock and bock styles but I have to say to me this was a mildly disappointing beer. If you are thinking about picking this up, I'd just get Aventinus Eisbock instead, maybe heavier but much better in my opinion

appearance: pours a very dark, cola-ish color, some subtle amber tones when held up to the light. Prominent head, cream colored by not creamy, somewhere between watery and frothy, more close to watery. head of about 2 to 3 fingers,decent retention

smell: the most prominent thing about this beer, smells as it's described, rich, dark, fruity, but not overly malty

taste: adequate, it's not that this is a bad beer, I want to stress that. it's more that given the praise this beer receives, well i'm just not so sure it's deserving. I come from a place of favoring strong dark belgian ales and whilst I do understand that this is not that, I feel as though it attempts at least in some sense to support the fruity flavors it claims to carry but the yeast does not do a very good job of it, this is a malty, malty, malty beer. It very much tastes like a generic porter or stout with dark fruity notes at the back of the take, but the strongest flavor is the roasted malt, which dominates the beer

mouthfeel:crisp but a little thick, not bad in this regard

overall: not aweful but if you're in the market for something like this, you can certainly do better. I do recommend having this with some Y Fenni cheese (otherwise known as red dragon)

On tap. A grand and beautiful beer. Its greatness comes not from any extreme of taste or texture, but rather some inimitable proportion that allows you to dwell in the higher plane of genius just for awhile, like a late Mozart symphony might.

Always love drinking this beer when someone wants to try it. I have one of those ram medallions hanging from each of my guitars.

It pours a dark red/brown color with some tan head. It dissipates slowly and reveals plenty of bubbles coming out of solution.

The smell is fairly complex. There is some dark sweet malts as well as some roasted smells. There is also a fruity smell, can't tell what it is by the smell.

The taste reveals that its a darker (possibly plum) flavor that I noticed in the aroma. All the rest of the smells translate to flavor as well. There is some sweet malts and a touch of roasted malt and even some hop bitterness but not too much.

Very smooth and refreshing. For as much complexity as this beer has its light enough to enjoy a large glass of with dinner.

Mouthfeel: Light medium body and a little thin, but its very creamy and i detect zero alcohol. Moderate bitterness on the finish

Overall: Being a fan of good American porters and brown ales, i highly enjoy this as i find some similarities. The dark fruit, light chocolate and vanilla, caramel, toasted grains, etc. The taste actually reminds me of a weaker version of Dogfish's Palo Santo Marron. It packs a lot of flavor and is extremely dribkable. A winner in my book

Deep, dark brown with ruby highlights, capped by a massive, light brown, lumpy head that recedes relatively quickly to a thin, covering film. Not much in the way of lace. The aroma is predominantly of coffee and dark dried fruits (raisins, prunes and dates). It isn't as complex as expected, but is appetizing nonetheless.

The flavor is malty sweet, with molasses and coffee at the head of the line. Some alcohol is evident; surprising since the ABV is only 6.7%. I noted a slight metallic taste with the first few sips, but it faded soon thereafter.

The mouthfeel isn't bad, but isn't all that wonderful either. I was expecting more smooth creaminess, but didn't get it. Drinkability is good.

Celebrator is my first doppelbock so I wasn't really sure what to expect. Given the high ratings, I expected to like it more than I did. Don't get me wrong, it's a good beer, but it didn't come close to knocking my socks off. I do like the little goat charm though. Nice touch.